1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an infant bed and, more particularly, to an infant bed that is structurally reinforced to protect the infant and is foldable for easy portability.
2. Description of Related Art
It is well known that newborn human infants require a great deal of sleep. The most common sleeping place for newborns and small infants during the first few months of life is in a bassinet. Then, as the infant grows and becomes too large for the bassinet, it is typically moved to a crib. Most newborn infants are unable to raise their heads for a number of days or weeks after birth, and most are unable to roll themselves over for several weeks or months. Because of the limited mobility of most newborns, the bassinet where they sleep is typically provided with a firm and flat mattress pad and no pillow in order to help prevent inadvertent suffocation of the infant. A tall peripheral wall around the bassinet prevents the infant from falling out. Unfortunately, these features make the bassinet bulky and difficult to transport.
It is typical for parents of newborn infants to keep the bassinet in the adult bedroom at night. This facilitates easy access to the infant during the night for feeding, changing or other needs that the infant may have. However, the unpredictable and seemingly unceasing demands of newborn infants can take their toll on the new parents and deprive them of much-needed sleep at night. Often, the warm and soothing touch of the parents is all that is necessary to help the infant fall asleep. Unfortunately, it can be both awkward and uncomfortable to lean over or reach into the bassinet in order to comfort the infant, especially when the tired parent would much rather be lying down. It is therefore desirable to provide an infant bed that can be easily accessed by the parent while lying down.
This arrangement, termed “co-sleeping”, involves the use of an infant bed that is adapted to support and protect an infant when sleeping in the adult bed. This arrangement may be not only desired, but necessary, by mothers who are recovering from labor and delivery, and/or from Caesarian section births. Likewise, nursing babies may be fed at night with minimal disruption of the sleep of the nursing mother.
One exemplary design is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,370,715, issued to Farah Morton on Apr. 16, 2002, now Reissue RE 40,754 of Jun. 23, 2009. It is directed toward a portable infant bed having a base panel, and an end wall and two side walls surrounding contiguous edges of the base panel to protect the infant from hazards such as choking, suffocating, or rollover injuries. The present invention is viewed as providing significant improvements over that patented invention.